Maghalie Rochette ready for a good battle in Winnipeg

Runner-up to teammate Catharine Pendrel at last year’s Canadian Cyclocross Championships at The Forks in Winnipeg, Quebec’s Maghalie Rochette comes into 2015’s competition as the elite women’s favourite. In her second year with LUNA Pro Team, Rochette’s build-up to the nationals includes placing 9th in September’s CrossVegas, the first UCI World Cup event, and 10th at the KMC Cyclocross Festival in Providence, Rhode Island. The U23 PanAmerican Continental champion talked to Canadian Cycling Magazine just a couple of days before the Winnipeg race.

Mical Dyck identifies you as the one to beat on Saturday. Does this bolster your confidence or put pressure on you?
Mical said some very nice things about me, and coming from an experienced and accomplished rider like her, it feels very flattering. However, that does not change my preparation or my mental state coming into the race. I know she (or anyone else, for that matter) will not give me any favours during the race just because she said nice things about me. We are friends, and maybe we’ll even go eat dinner together during the weekend, but everybody wants to win at Nationals.

You placed 9th in Crossvegas, a very good result. How does a World Cup race differ from a race in the North American circuit?
The level of women’s racing in North America is very high and our women are very strong. In my opinion, I feel like the top girls are as fast in North America as they are in Europe, but the main difference in a World Cup, is that the field is much deeper; meaning that not only the top 5 girls, but the top 20-25 girls are very competitive.

Does the Winnipeg course suit you? What did you learn in racing it last year that you’ll be wary of this time? Do you like the changes to the course?
I like the course in Winnipeg. I made a huge mistake last year by crashing very early in the race, so I’ll try to be more calm this year and have a clean race.
I haven’t ridden the new course yet, but I saw the changes and I think it will be even better than last year. The course looks a lot harder with some new features (a new set on stairs, a bigger sand pit, flyover, etc.) and I believe this will make the race more interesting. I am very excited to check out the course tomorrow!

Under what racing conditions do you thrive?
I like all conditions. Rain and mud could be a lot of fun and very exciting, but dry and fast could bring a more aggressive style of racing, which I also like a lot. We’ll see how it is on race day, but I’ll be happy with any kind of weather!

What bike and set-up will you be using on Saturday?
I will be racing our LUNA Team’s bikes. They are Ibis frames with Orbea decals because Orbea does not currently offer any cross frames that suit our sizing and performance requirements. Orbea supports this solution. The bikes are also equipped with Shimano Dura Ace electronic shifting and Shimano hydraulic disc brakes. The tire selection will depend on the weather conditions on race day, but I am confident our great equipment will be working great no matter what the conditions are!

What does the rest of the season look like for you?
After Winnipeg, I will go to Cincinnati to race the PanAmerican championships. After that, I will take a small break, as it’s been a pretty long season after a big mountain bike campaign this spring/summer. I would love to race the World Championships in January, but that is something I haven’t decided yet.